Top three Indian cricketers who were not awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna

#2 Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid - The backbone of Indian batting

Rahul Dravid is widely regarded as the Wall of Indian cricket. He was a worthy lieutenant to Ganguly as the vice-captain of the Indian team which achieved great success both home and away. Think of any of the great Test wins for India and Dravid's performances would be at the forefront, whether it be the 180 vs Australia at Kolkata in 2001, the 148 at Leeds in 2002, the 233 and 72* at Adelaide in 2003, the 270 at Rawalpindi in 2004. or the 93 at Perth in 2008.

Dravid, the ultimate team man, was willing to take any role that was assigned to him. From opening the batting to taking the wicket-keeper's gloves, Dravid was willing to accept any challenge for the team's cause and came out with flying colours.

Dravid is India's most prolific batsman after Tendulkar. He scored 13,288 runs in Tests at a healthy average of 52.31 and 10,889 runs in ODIs at an average of 39.16. Apart from his batting, Dravid was also a very accomplished close-in fielder especially in the slips. His world record of 210 catches in Test matches is a testament to it. In 2004, Dravid bagged both the ICC Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year awards.

Dravid was recommended for the Khel Ratna by the BCCI both in 2006 and 2012, but he lost out to multiple-times billiards world champion Pankaj Advani in 2006, and Olympic medalists Vijay Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt in 2012.